Thursday, January 24, 2013

Wow, that title is quite a mouthful, but clearly articulates what went down over the weekend. For the second year in a row I attended and entered chili at OC Beer Society's 2nd Annual Chili Cook-off & Bottle Share which was held once again at my buddy Brad's house (aka Peace Brewing). If you would like a rundown of last year go check out the post Greg at OC Beer Blogput up.

This year the turnout was pretty much double what it was last year, and the competition for top chili honors was fierce. Where as last year I helped my wife make a kick-ass turkey chili with IPA this year I was really shooting for the gold with what I thought would be hands down winner - Barrel Aged 33 Brand Chili (recipe below). To seal the deal I even went the extra steps of topping it with bacon. Unfortunately in the end it was to no avail and Greg ended up taking the top prize with Daniel coming in second, but enough about the chili let's talk beer!

Beer!

I brought four beers this year; Cuvée Saint-Gilloise (Cantillon), Holiday Beer 2010 (SNB Brewing), Commander (Lift Bridge) and The Auroch’s Horn Aged On Rhubarb (Olvalde). The Cuvée was excellent and was my 1,200th check in on Untappd. I was really surprised by how good the Holiday Beer 2010 had gotten, all the spices have really melded well into the beer to create something truly special. I've got two bottles left and I think I'm going to continue the tradition of opening them at this event next year and the year after. The other beer I brought that I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it was The Auroch’s Horn Aged On Rhubarb (Olvalde). I got a slight sour/tart note on it that reminded me of chardonnay. I asked someone who knew wine what she thought and while she didn't get chardonnay she could see where I was coming from when I described why I was tasting chardonnay.

Some of the beers I thought were highlights of the event for me were; Four and Five (Surly - shocking I know), Rooster King (Beancurdturtle Brewing - really developing nicely with the Portola coffee), Murda'd Out Stout (Three Floyds - I'd wanted to try it), Kopi-Speedway Stout (AleSmith - score), Le Bleu (Ithaca - fantastic blueberry beer) and Black Note (Bell's - once I'm back from Europe and the frenzy dies down I'm trading for a 4-pack)

It was a great afternoon of beer. Brad and Ron (OC Beer Society) really put together an incredible event that was a ton of fun. I got to try a lot of great beer but more than that I got to hang out and really get to know a lot of the OC beer scene. For me it was really a fusion of multiple groups; OC Beer Society, SBS (Scott, Steve, Ryan with David and Marisa) Brewluminti etc. A few people from the OC Beer Society like Chris (Orangey) I'd seen only online while others like Nick (Miklos) and Jeff I'd met before but got to know this round.